DOPUST/ Days of open performance VIENNA is an international festival of performance art and will be held in Vienna for the second time. The festival will showcase the extraordinary diversity of performance art connected to the topic MASCULINE ICONS, as over 26 artists will present works that spans from happening, action, public intervention, body art to video, photography and music. The two-week art program will be focused on masculinity and manliness and is divided into three parts: a workshop, performance days and two exhibitions.The screening program will highlight performance documentation to the topic and will be shown in the basement of the gallery.

The exhibitions The Reality behind the Fantasy – Masculine Icons /La Reina Del Sur will opt for photographs, installation, videos, and sculptures and based on their significance in the repertoire of manly attributes, such as powerful, strong, heterosexual and sexual power illustrations of man.

The program will be focused on masculinity and manliness. In our mental image, men are influenced by their upbringing, experience, and social environment, which play a big role in determining one's view of masculinity and manhood. There are numerous forms and expressions of gender, of "being masculine" or "being male". Masculinity and femininity or one's gender identity1 refers to the degree to which persons see themselves as masculine or feminine. Societal members decide what being male or female means in our society. "Masculinity always is interpolated by cultural, historical and geographical location"2. This means that masculinity is going to be different for everyone. Some particularly influential factors in shaping one's idea of manhood are race, class, ability, sexual orientation, and gender.

The artists and art theoretician from different countries and cultural backgrounds who have been invited will perform or lecture at the gallery or somewhere in Vienna, dealing with the topic. All these works and performances may not accurately reflect reality and we will see if there really is a different manifestation of visible hegemonic masculinities in different cultures and history. The program is complemented by lectures and discussions on the topic of masculine icon by artists and renowned scientists.